Method of and apparatus for treating carbonaceous material



- L. P. WEBERT METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL Filed Feb. 1a, 1920 s s eetS -Sheet 1 J f' vw r L48L39$ 3 22 1924' L. P. WEBERT METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL Filed.Feb. 1'8 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 400/15 ,0 Mber)! film 22 1924.

L. P,- WEBERT METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL Filed Feb. 1a, 1920 s Sheets-Sheet 3 JHIHH HHHHHA //7ven f0/7 A 00/: A Weberi.

' atented ufan. H924.

amet entree STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS P. WEBERT, OE ANNAPOLIS, MARY LAND.

7 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL.

Application filed February 18, 1920. Serial No. 359,527.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, LOUIS P. WEBERT, a citizen of the United States, residing at An.- napolis, in the county. of Anne Arundel and State of Maryland, "have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Treating Carbonaceous Material, of which the following is a. specification. V

This invention relates to a process and apparatus for the treatment of carbonaceous material such as coal, coke, coke breeze,

lignite, peat, sawdust, oil shale, or any other material capable of being reduced to the pulverulent state and from which combustible gases and other products may be produced by the application of heat thereto.

I am aware that, in the past, it has been proposed to treat pulverulent carbonaceous materials such as coal and the like with heat in order to produce gasesand by-products.

However, the present invention has for one of its objects the provision of a process designed to ofiset the disadvantages attendant upon the burning of pulverized dry coal in furnaces, wherein the disadvantages obtaining are, the high temperatures attendant upon the eflicient combustion under boilers; the line ash resulting from such combustion cannot be completely collected and therefore passes up the flue and is distributed over the neighborhood; some of the ash fuses on the brickwork and boiler tubes thereby decreasin the efiiciency of the boiler, and the valubi by-products obtainable in the extraction of gas from the coal are consumed when such pulverulent coal is directly burned.

The invention also has as'an object the provision of an apparatus capable of continuous treatment of pulverulent coal or other carbonaceous material for the recovery of combustible gases and attendant byproducts incident to. the production of such gases. V v

In the present invention carbonaceous 'material such asset forth in the first paragraph hereof isqreduced to pulverulent form and injected under any desired, pressure above atmospheric pressure athigh velocity by means of a highly heated non oxidizing gas or superheated steam, or a mixture of both non-oxidizing gas and superheated steam,

into a heated retort tube in which a spiral core is fixed. The comminuted solid matter traveling at high velocity impinges against the highly heated surfaces of the tube and '.the method or process into the whorls of the spiral core in such manner that the minute particles of said material rapidly become of the same temperature, practically, as that of the medium in which they are carried thereby resulting in practically instantaneous decomposition into their respective constituents.

V The resultant solid matter and gases produced in the foregoing manner are then separated by precipitating the dust and condenslng those gases which normally are liquid at ordinary temperature and storing the resulting liquid and gaseous products for future use.

Another object of the present invention resides in the treatment of the mixture of carbonaceous material and highly heated gases passing through re-torts, with a catalytic agent, for the purpose of bringingabout changes inthe composition of the resultant gaseous products.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 an apparatus constructed according to the present invention for the purpose of carrying out the process herein set forth;

1g. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 on line 2-2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the feeding means for the apparatus;

Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section onfeeding nozzle.

In detail:

One form of the apparatus for carrying practice consists of a furnace having the vertical front and rear walls I-and 2 and the stack head 3. Within the furnace structure are located the staggered horizontal baffles 4, 5', and 6 and the vertical bafile 7 an opening 7" being located. between the baflie- 7 and the wall 2. The end walls of the furnace are indicated at 8 and 9p On the platform 10 formed by a portioii of the top of the furnace is a hopper 11 supported by beams 12 and 13 weight of the hopper shell" and the beam 14 carrying the feeding foot associated with the carrying the r of sloping formation as shown. The feeding foot will be designated as A inasmuch as it corresponds, in construction, with a similar member used elsewhere in the apparatus and the construction of which will behereinafter more fully described. The outlet from the foot is indicated at 16 and extends downwardly and enters a retort tube 17 which at its opposite end is connected with'a similar retort tube 18 connected, in turn at its opposite end b a header 19 with anot er retort tube 18 to orm a series or battery of retort tubes B, the final tube 20 of which is connected by a pipe 21 with an enlarged elbow 22 which permits the product passing through the pipe 21 to have its velocity reduced and enter the hopper 23 which has an outlet 24 for gases and a foot feeding device C identical with thefoot feeding device A previously mentioned.

Within the hopper 23 and adjacent the outlet 24 thereof is an electrostatic dust precipitator comprising a series of plates 25 grounded on the hopper body and between which are suspended the rods 26 connected with the other pole of a suitable source of electrical energy not herein shown. From the foot feeding devic'e C the solid products enter. the pipe 27 and are conveyed downwardly to a retort tube 28 of a second battery of retorts D identical with the first named battery and the outlet 29 from which the mixture of gases and solid matter is led into an'enlarged elbow 30 to reduce the velocity of the mixture and which enters the hopper 31 having the gas outlet 32 which'has immediately a acent thereto an electrostatic dust preci itator 33 identical with the one previousl escribed. The hopper bot-.

tom enters a pit 34 and is provided with a screw conveyor 35 for removing the solid v ash or coke dust.

1 non-oxidizing Disposed within the furnace and in the path of the hot gases leaving "the burner E are slliperheater coils F having headers G and the first of which is connected by a pipe 36'with a valve-37 leading to a source of steam supply (not shown), a source of supply or a source for the combination-:ofiboth the steam and non-oxi dizing gas supply; The superheater coils F have outlets "indicated at 38 and 39 which lead into the feeds to the initial retorts 17 and 280f the retort batteries B and D respectively;

The front ofthe furnace is closed .by suitable doors 40, those of the right hand half being removed for the purpose of the present disclosure and the rear of the furnace is similarly closedwith identical doors like-' wise numbered 40 end of any suitable con-, .struction.

- Each of the foot feeding devices A and C menses member having the mouth .51 receiving the discharge from the rotor 45 and said tubular member accommodates a spiral conveyor 52 having a spindle 53, the ends of which are mounted in bearings 54 and one of which carries the driving pulley 55 while the other carries a gear 56 meshing with a ar 57 on the end of the shaft 46 so that by riving the pulley 55 .the rotor 44 is also driven. The outlet 58 connects with the feed pipe to the retort batteries B and D as the case may be.

Each of the retort tubes as illustrated in Fi 5 comprises a shell 59 iiamged as at 60 an 61 to receive the heads 62 and 63 similarly flanged. Within the retort shell 59'is disposed a spindle .64 having the helix 65.

The construction of the retort tube shown. in Fig.6 is identical withthat shown in Fig. 5 with the exception of the core 66 which consists of the spindle 67 carrying the spiral whorls 68 of a helix, the entire core is formed of some material which will act as a catalytic agent in the process, or it may be formed of a porous refractory ma terial containing a catalytic agent.

The operation of the apparatus is as fol lows:

Heat is supplied from the burners E which may be fed, if desirable, from previously stored gas produced by the apparatus. The heat courses upwardly through the furnace and around the bafllcs 4, 5, 6, and 7 thoroughly heating the retort batteries B and D together with the super heated coils F and the hopper 23. Carbonaceous material such as coal, lignite, peat,

sawdust, or oil shale, is introduced the hopper 11- and,-as the rotor 44 of th e foo-t feeding device A is driven, the pulverulent carbonaceous material is fed down into the spiral conveyor 52 and then enters the pipe 16; here it meets a jet of non-oxidizing gas such as water gas, or a jet of superheated steam or highly heated non-oxidizing gas and superheated steam traveling at high velo'it-y and entering the feeding pipe through a nozzle and venturi indicated in general in Figure 2 of the drawings by the numeral 39' distillation of the particles is the result.

The products resulting from this treatment in the battery of retorts Bthen continue upwardly in the pipe 21 and lose con- 'siderable of their velocity in the elbow 22.

from which they enter the hopper 23. Here "the products are acted on by the electrostatic dust precipitator with the result that the solid particles are precipitated and the gases are collected in any suitable receiver connected with the outlet 24. Such gases are then subjected to. the usual Washing and condensing treatment for the recovery of by-products. The solid particles are collected in the bottom of the hopper 23 and fed b the foot feeding device C to the pipe 27 w'iere they meet with a jet of superheated steam, non-oxidizing gas, or a combination of the two, and are carried through the lower battery retorts D constructed similar to the previously described battery but, due to being nearer to the source of heat are at a higher temperature. The products of this battery D enter the hopper 31 through the velocity reducing elbow 30 where they are acted on by the electrostatic precipitator 33 and the gases taken off through the conduit 32 while the precipitated particles of solid matter are removed by a screw conveyor 35.

While the arrangement of retort batteries herein shown is one which I may prefer to use in carrying the process into effect, it is nevertheless to be understood that the process may be equally as well performed in successive batteries of retorts arranged side by side in separate furnaces, each battery of retorts being heated and kept at any desired temperature. It is also to be understood that thepulverulent carbonaceous material may be made to pass through each battery of retorts in a continuous stream travelling athigh 'velocity,or the stream of carbona ceous material may be interrupted at intervals in order to expose the material for a greater length of time to heat at the temperature of the retort. Inasmuch as the treatment of the gases subsequent to distillation is a matter of general knowledge in the art it is deemed unnecessary to herein show the combination of the furnaces with the mechanism for treating the gases produced thereby.

One instance of the manner of using the apparatus and carrying the method'or process intoefi'ect isas follows:

The first treatment consists in subjecting the'pulverulent material to a temperature of from 850 to .1400" F. this being done'in the presence of a non-oxidizing gas, such as water gas, or in the presence of superheated steam, or a mixture of non-oxidizing gasand superheated steam.

After this first treatment the resulting products are carried on around the heated whorls made of refracto material containing the catalytic agent. his step is carried out at a temperature in the neighborhood of from 1800 to 2000 F. The catalytic agent used for this purpose may be made of a mixture of three parts chromium-oxide and one part iron-oxide. On this treatment the carbon in the carbonaceousmaterial is gasified in the presence of an excess of steam, according to the following established primary reactions:

The mixture of gases consists chiefly .of hydrogen, steam, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. The catalytic agent is used to bring about the oxidation of the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide in the mixture of gases in the presence of steam according to the reaction It is to be noted especially that the catalytic agentis used in the presence of steam and the pulverulent carbonaceous material.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the carbon monoxide is eliminated from the gaseous products resulting from destructive distillation of the carbonaceous material and that whereas, heretofore, it had been found impracticable to eliminate carbon-monoxide directly, the present invention accomplishes this result by employing an oxydizing catalytic agent in the retorts through which the carbonaceous material is blown, so as to convert the carbo-n-' monoxide into carbon-dioxide which may be washed out, with facility, thereby obtaining substantially pure hydrogen.

I claim:

1. The method of treating comminuted carbonaceous material for destructive distillation thereof, consisting in passing such comminuted materialin a carrying medium of superheated steam through a plurality of series of retorts containing spiral cores carrying a catalytic agent, each series of reperature to e ect changes in the gaseous medium surrounding such comminuted in each retortof such batteries, and means materlal. for feeding the product of one battery 3. The method of treating comminuted carbonaceous material for destructive distillation thereof, consisting in passing such comminuted material in a carrying medium of superheated steam and non-oxidizing gas through aplurality of series of retorts containing spiral cores carrying a catalytic agent, each series of retorts being heated to a different temperature to effect changes in the gaseous medium surrounding such comminuted material.

4. In an apparatusfor destructive distillaltion of carbonaceous material, separate retort batteries, means for heating such retort batteries to different temperatures, a spiral core within each retort of such batteries, and means for feeding the product of one batte' t0 the next battery through the spirals o the core.

I 5. In an apparatus for destructive distillation of carbonaceous material, separate retort batteries, means for heating such 'retort batteries to difi'erent temperatures, a spiral core carrying a catalytic agent withthrough the spirals of the core to the next battery.

6. In an apparatus for destructive'distillation of carbonaceous material, separate retort batteries, means for heating such retort batteries to different temperatures, means for feeding the product of one battery through the spirals of the core to the next batter and includi mechanism for taking off te volatilepro ucts between the batteries and precipitating solid matter.

7. In an apparatus for destructive distillation of carbonaceous material, separate retort batteries, means for heating such retort batteries to different temperatures, a spiral core carrying a catalytic agent within each retort of such batteries, means for feeding the product of one battery to thenext battery through the spirals of said core and including mechanism for taking ofi the volatile products between the batteries and electrostatically precipitating solid matter.

In testimony whereof I affix m signature.

LOUIS P. .WEBER [L. a} 

